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Convince me to leave Wow
Hey Everyone-
I've never really liked MMORPGs until playing WoW with friends, family and even now, my GF. I am still new to MMORPGs as I started my Wow account in August of 2010. During that time, I've leveled my guy to cap, enjoyed Battle Grounds, Raids, epic gear, rare mounts and professions. I've upgraded to Cata and leveled my guy through 85 and repeated basically what I've already done at 80 (the old cap) with heroic dungeons, raids, gear, pvp and mounts.
My friend is playing Rift but he never has played Wow (at least to level cap) and cannot give me any TANGIBLE comparisons between the two games other than the Rifts.
During Wow's expansion changes - does dynamic events that are fun for the first month and then VERY annoying later. Wow also has dynamic questing that changes the world around you as you go. I don't find either of these two fun because you cannot help other players while they are in other phazes. I do not like loner questing, I like team questing. Wow makes group questing actually take longer and that's just lame.
I love team oriented gaming, I love working on gear and not feeling like I'm wasting resources gearing up (cause during leveling, it's worthless in a day or two anyways), I love working with a bunch of close friends to achieve things (raids, pvp, professions, etc...).
I dislike how Wow has 85 levels and takes an extremely long time for friends to level. I HATE how they will not let people switch servers without paying money so you never can get all your friends on one server. However, Raiding and Dungeos are a blast and so is the PVP.
That said, my goal is to switch from Wow to Rift WITH all my friends. In order to make that happen, I need tangible reasons as I have never played rift. Fan boys for either game, please keep comments to yourself. Only post here if you've played both games and hit level 85 on Wow and enjoyed Wow AND Rift.
I know it's beta, I know it hasn't shown level cap. I would like an adult discussion, which every other thread I've seen lacks.
Comments
Best thing you can do is to grab some beta keys for both you and your friends. There are plenty floating around on this site, both from the mmorpg.com itself and from VIP players giving their own.
Noone is better to judge a game than you, so I would suggest you grab the opportunity and participate in the next beta event. Incidentally that event starts at Feb 4.
Thank you, I spent sometime looking for that date. That helps a lot!
Simply put what can your friends that know you tell you that we who don't know you can?
To that point, move because you want to play with your friends.
Otherwise I'm not sure that I can really give you a real reason to move games other than what i have said. I prefer what I've seen of Rift over WoW but that's because I prefer the art design, like the class system and really enjoy the dynamic game play of the rifts.
Other than that? The game runs well and is very polished.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Other than preventing the expansion of the rift, what do the rifts give you?
Looked like from youtube videos, exp? Do you get gear?
Grab a beta key, play it for yourself, and make a decision on your own.
That was already stated and it's obvious. Post not needed.
The games are fun because you play with all your friends
once the novelty of it wares off that is.
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Achiever 20.00%, Explorer 86.67%, Killer 60.00%, Socializer 33.33%
EKSA
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I'd have to say that if you enjoyed WOW and its many game mechanics, but are tired of it and looking for something new (not different, not the same concept really) that plays along the same lines as WOW, then Rift might be the game for you.
It will have quest based, linear progression with classes, levels, and you'll probably be replacing gear at regular intervals including end game.
From what I can tell, the talent tree system is a bit of a revision, the Rifts the major hook (a better public quest if you've ever played WAR) and outside of that, you won't find much else to draw you in.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Is the whole Rift vs WoW because of your 1 friend that is already playing Rift? If so just ignore this post.
Otherwise if you're not hung up on Rift, from what you've described as your likes; group play, PvP, raids etc..., might I suggest AoC on say the Cim server? PvP server, groups better than solo, dungeons, raids etc.....
It has a lvl 1 - 20 free play on the starter island which would let you and your friends check it out at no cost.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Depends on what you want. WoW suits people with a certain play style. I don't like that play style for more than one or two months at a time, max. Truth be told, if you want to be convinced to leave WoW, there has to be something that makes you want to be convinced to leave WoW. That means it has downsides for you. That means you're not fully comfortable playing WoW. You should not pay for a product you are not comfortable with.
Other than that, all I can say is: try out some different MMOs for a change. There's plenty of good free to play MMOs these days, such as Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Everquest II, and Champions Online. If after trying them neither of those tickles your fancy, move to the trials for EVE, Star Trek Online, DarkFall, and Warhammer. If anything, that will give you a means of finding out what's out there (because frankly, although it does an amazing job at quick-paced, accessible gameplay, WoW is pretty bland as far as MMO mechanics are concerned) and in turn, that will allow you to find out what it is you seek in an MMO. Hopefully, it will also give you a good time in the process and for zero moneys, to boot.
On a sidenote, if you really think WoW takes long to level, all hope is lost for you as far as MMOs are concerned. In WoW, levelling takes about the same amount of effort as sneezing. Metaphorically speaking, of course, but it's not too far from the truth. I have played and leveled a character in WoW using only my nose. I have run Cataclysm heroics using only a single macro to cast my spells with, the worst parts being that nobody noticed and that I topped the DPS charts. Granted, it was a rather complicated macro involving many lines of LUA script, but it serves to show just how easy playing WoW is. Therefore, if you think playing WoW is complicated and leveling takes long, do not try to play different MMOs. They are more difficult and leveling takes longer. For. Every. Single. MMO.
It is very difficult to get friends to move from one game to another as a group. If your friends are enjoying wow, then my advice is don't press the issue on them. Make the offer with beta/buddy keys or whatever you can get your hands on, but don't hard sell it.
I'm sure a lot of people here can tell horror stories about convincing friends to move to some new game only to have a bad experience. Play the game and if it is fun for you then let your friends try it or come over and watch. If they are ready for a new game Rift might just be the thing and shouldn't take more than making the suggestion to get them to dive in. I've enjoyed what I have played of it so far. The early parts of the game seem very solid.
Really I dont feel like you need many reasons you will have most fun in a game that all of your friends are playing (Rift). They are very similar games so I really think you will have fun playing both. As I have only gotten to lvl 20 I'm not sure I can tell you much about Rift but I can tell you from past experience in WoW and from your post you will be bored soon. Might as well move to a new game where you will have fun for a longer time exploring new places and seeing new dungeons you have never seen. A new art style doesnt hurt either haha
If you find the leveling time from 1-85 to be too long in WoW, you're going to get very annoyed at most other MMOs. WoW allows you to level faster than most. I personally left WoW because it's a gear-based game. Gear is the point. You're supposed to gear up to experience the newest content, which you want to experience to get the newest gear. My great trophies from months of running Molten Core when it was new are meaningless to some new player who got the same things in thirteen minutes last night with three bored guys whose raid broke up early. I found that I wanted more than just chasing the new gear every several months, after doing it off-and-on for years.
I find now that the things I enjoy the most about MMOs tend to be the things that happen outside of combat (although I do love a good combat system). WoW is a highly polished game based around combat and gear-aquisition, with very little left in other areas (exploration, crafting, decoration, ability to change the game world, etc).
If you're looking for a great group experience, unfortunately that's something that's just as easy or difficult to find in most games. I can't recommend any one game or server or guild for you for that, because a month from now it might be different. You just have to put yourself out there in a game, be someone worth talking to, and assemble some friends that way. If you already have a group like that in WoW, then you may want to stick with it. And if you have people you want to play with on another server where they don't want to transfer to yours, and you don't want to pay the fee: you're a WoW leveling expert now. Leveling a new character to 85 on that new server will take you half, maybe a third of the time now that you know where everything is and how everything works.
If what you enjoy most in a game is combat (PvE and/or PvP), or gear-aquisition, then WoW may just be the best game for you. WoW has more to offer than most MMOs in those two areas. But it has less to offer than most other MMOs elsewise. For example, WoW is based around the concept that when you want a break from the gear-grind, or to do something different, you'll make another character and repeat what you've altready done (or go back and repeat it on the same character for 'Achievements'). It's designed with the expectation that you will end up making a new character every couple months. There are games out there where you'll have far less urge to do so, because of a more varied and rounded experience available for your main character. Or you'll get bored out of your skull in those games because all the extra variety they have is stuff that you find boring, and really, you just want something like WoW where people talk to each other more, trashtalk less, and don't rely on mods to play for them.
Ultimately, if what you really want is fast-paced group play, you may never find what you're looking for. There's still stuff that groups can dream up to do within WoW to challenge themselves with. You can be creative in any game. But people get distracted, people go afk, people log on late or leave early, and then you're left hanging. No game will change that.
I wouldn't suggest Rift over WoW, though. Other than the randomly spawning rifts, it's a game that's going to be very similar to WoW. But WoW will have a seven year head-start on Rift. Rift will launch like all games do: without much for end-game (for those that care about end-game), with many bugs and server instabilities, with unbalanced classes or fights, without much variety in gear or cosmetics. By the time it launches, WoW will have a half dozen new dungeons and raids on top of the dozens that it already has. Rift won't be able to compare.
If it's a choice between Rift and WoW, based on what I understand of what you enjoy and don't enjoy, stay in WoW. Maybe you can convince all your friends and family to start up on a new server in WoW together: all starting fresh, with nothing, as a group. Level up together. If you can't get them to do that in WoW, which they're already playing, then you probably won't be able to get them to do that in a different game either.
Some of this has been covered by other posts - but as your asking for opinions i thought i'd add mine.
I'd like to think i know WoW well, played since beta and admit it does what it sets out to do very well, i have also played Rift for the last couple of betas, and so have about as much understanding of how the game plays as most of the others posting here.
The feel of the games is similar, so if you've enjoyed wow at some point in the last 6 years there is probably somthing to get out of Rift - how much hopefully the following points will help you decide.
The open play of Rift is far more community friendly than wow is today - elitism hasn't yet set in, and as everyone doesnt know the game inside out there is still that joint sense of adventure. However this is more due to Rift being new, than it being different (wow had a similar feel in this respect in its Beta). However the rifts in Rift may help sustain this longer term. It is impossible to say just from the beta test and the forums reports from those who have tested in Alpha and/or helped developed the game how well the rifts will stand the test of time - already there are many posts comparing rifts to the PQs of WAR (and other games). Whilst there is a healthy population at your level these a fun events that help break up the usual quest and grind and inspire great community spirit and group work. However once you find everyone has reached max level and there are only 6 of you between lvl 20-30, and you're spread out across the world these may proove to be unplayable. - only time will tell how well the rift system will cope once it has truly been implemented.
Dungeons and group quests - early on there aren't many group quests (more seem to pop up as you increase in level) these are fun enough, but nothing to write home about. Dungeons however are. The instanced dungeons follow what is fast becomming the standard formula (im not going to debate if this is good or not) but you find yourself a tank, a healer and some dps and go kill some harder mobs for better loot/quests. For thie first time in bloody ages i have had to actually pay attention to dungeons at low levels in Rift - which is great!
By this is mean although there is an element of the old tank and spank there is also the need for tactics and players ot be awake and paying attention, somthign i find wow really lacks for all its merits (at least prior to heroics). As end game hasn't be opened for testing yet it is impossible to tell how/if this transfers into a slightly more demanding end game content, but i am hopeful (it is also possible that people will complain about it being too hard and all that challenging stuff will be nerfed..ala wow c. 5 years ago).
PvP - World pvp between 2 factions never seems to work (you get an inbalance which tends to kill it off) however its too early to tell fi this will be the same for rift, but sadly i expect so. The simple soutltion to this is avoid pvp realms, but i ackowledge that si less fun if you like to pvp a lot.
The warfronts are your standard battle ground. Instanced pvp with one small grp aginst another - it not orignal, or unique, but they have been done well in rift, and if you like your Bg's in wow, you'll like warfronts in Rift.
Rift doesnt have any sort of Arena pvp system (at least not that i know off). For many people Arena delt the killing blow to pvp in wow - for many others it is now what all pvp should be (overglorified duels - i wonder which camp im in...). So if Arenas are you be all and end all, stay away rom rift for now, if however you like a bit of everything then he warfronts should be enough to quench your pvp thirst, even on a non pvp server.
The one thing that seems to offer real change is the class system. in rift you pick your role out of 4 (warrior, cleric, mage and rogue) then each of those 4 basically have 8 (?) different talent tress, and you can pick any combination of 3 from those 8. Plus a seperate pvp talent tree for later in the game. This potentially offers far greater talent customisation than i haver experianced i wow - experially as you can have multiple "souls" whihc basically allow duel spec between these 8 talent trees. Whilst i am loving this feature it will be hard for it to stay balanced between all the classes, and if Trion can't keep it balanced this more than anything i suspect will kill the game.
A side point for the OP from ingame vendors and crafting the max lvl for Rift would appear to be 50 on release (wow was 60 when it was launched). Also to add further to a previous postser wow has one of the fastest (if boring and lonley) leveling progression of any mainstream mmo out there - back in vanillar it used to take the best partof a month to hit 60 - now i can do 0-85 in under 10 days...and depsise myself at the same time (and people say blokes can't multitask...).
I will be playing Rift - i have played the betas and enjoyed them - with you two more betas to come (4/2-7/2 and then again 15/2-22/2) there is plenty of time for you to do the same. However as you have only played wow since Augest it is possible (and i do not mean for this to sound condercending) that wow still is offering up lots of novalty for you, if this is so then much fo the novalty of rift may be lost - Rift is/will be a good game, however only time will tell just how good - if you're still enjoying wow then stay with it (dont fix somthign that isn't broken). But do look into the Betas, nothign will give you a better idea than getting hands on.
That sucks OP. I know I have a few friends that are dead set on staying with WoW, and have no desire to play Rift. So I'm kind of in a similar position. All I can really say is that they are going to play whatever makes them happy. I'm going to play what makes me happy.
If you find yourself enjoying WoW and find the community fun and entertaining, then by all means stay with WoW. It's not like rift is going anywhere... The reason everyone is up in arms about switching to rift now is because it's close to release, and for MMO players there's nothing quite like a MMO at release. It's hard to describe, but it's kind of like losing your virginity again... It's something new.
As it's already been said you can try the betas, but since you're still new to MMO's you might want to play around with WoW a bit longer to explore it's endgame.
However, I know you said that you would like to switch with all your friends, and in order to do that you're going to need something tangible to tell your friends about why they should switch...
I wrote a long article talking about my first experience with Rift... You can find it here... http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/303458/page/1
Other than some of the differences I talked about in the article (the graphics, sound, pet pathing, rifts, artifacts,etc..) I've recently enjoyed some of the PvP aspects Rift has to offer.
The PvP in WoW is fun, very fun, but as a mage I always hated never being able to hide very easily... Sure there was line of sight, but (at least when I played back in BC) it didn't interrupt your spells. I remember many a fireball flying through objects in order to hit my target... While this was great when I was on the offensive it was annoying on the defensive. Whenever, I tried to break LOS on a warrior's charge or a locks shadow bolt it never seemed to work...
This is one of my favorite differences in battle I can now break LOS with something no wider than a foot in the game scale. I'm also interrupted if my target is smart enough to get to cover. Also this combined with the exploits that you can do with the terrain has a lot of potential...
When I talk about the potential with the terrain I'm referring to how you can stand on almost anything... a small branch on a tree, a tiny ledge on the back of a temple a catwalk... though many see the battle grounds as one dimensional, there are so many spots to hide and get out of sight in every battle ground on top of a wall, in a tree, on a cliff. it really seems to make being a caster a lot more fun...
I'm hoping to do a write up soon on my Battleground experience talking about a few of the points I mentioned here. When I do I'll link that here as well to try and make this post more concise...
Good luck
Post 16, 15 and 14 are really good reads. I much appreciate that!
Maybe that's why I don't like leveling, maybe wow does a poor job and I might enjoy it in Rift.
I know a few friends will want to try something different and a few have put to much time and money into wow, so they may stay. I plan on trying the beta out (hopefully friday) with my gf and a couple people I know and see what's up.
Thank you all for the explanations!
{removed, my comments were too far from what you asked}
Sound like you already decided on either Rift or WoW and I was suggesting other games.
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
Why are you just choosing between wow and rift? That's like choosing between chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips vs peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips. It's the same thing and sure, somebody might argue that one is better but it all boils down to preference.
***gives you pie!** there ya go
Well, From what I have seen most people that have came to the beta from wow plan to leave wow and play rift. So Trion must be doing something rightt... or maybe wrong who knows, but I enjoyed Rift alot more than I enjoyed wow.
WoW is kinda boring and eventless. Rift is exciting with things going on at all times. It gets freaking crazy man. The best time of a game will be the first few months , so if you want to get invovled you better start it on release or it wont be worth it.
This is when the real fun starts and you can enjoy leveling. Few months or years from now, you may be one of a few people trying to level while everyone else is already at level cap.
"When it comes to GW2 any game is fair game"
stay in WoW if you like your semi-god righteous pally and don't mind to re-grind the same content over and over with your 12th alt. otherwise, you may try Rift and see if you like it. Or wait for a free trial.
I would say the lore is pretty good and growing if your into that. But from a game play stand point RIFT plays very similar however the RIFT system really brings people together from all over to help close rifts and stop invasions. It is really fun to walk up to a rift area and get that join local group button and hit and suddenly see 30 people in the raid all working together to take out the MOB's.
Sometimes it can turn into a zerg fest as people try to dps and heal to make sure they get enough credit to get some nice loots from the RIFT. When a rift or invasions force is beaten you get a sort of rift currency that you can use to buy very nice gear and weapons or you can get rare gear and rare crafting supplies and this rift boxes that give random goodies. Buff items, gear, transformation, potion effects and such. So there is incentive to participate besides the fact of ridding the zone of nasty elite type mobs who will school you if your solo. I have made some good friends already from these rift PUG's.
So if you are into suddenly finding yourself face to face with an open rift and your all alone... wait for backup there are always surprises popping out that are waiting to own you.
other than the rift mechanic the quest system is very solid and familar the world feels very alive and changing. The constant live action and random events spice up any go here kill mob repeat you might feel when your in the middle of a quest and an invasion force runs by you with 4 other people in tow... you just have to go help them.
The skill system is rather nice and creative as you spend points on your souls you unlock abilities that open once you spend a certain amount on a particluar soul tree, now this is on top of any abilities you also unlock in the tree itself... like a bonus for spending points in a certain tree. This help mix things up and makes you think hard about where to put that next point. The skill descriptions are very nicely written and easy to understand so you never feel like your gambling however once you click save it will cost coin to reset your points so think strategically about how you play and what your goal is in the near term.
The graphics are beautiful and animations are smooth and polished, the creatures are creative and very chatty with chat bubbles popping up with many a snide remark especially some of the rift mobs. The NPC's are very engaging and the quests and dialog are very well written being sometimes funny and sometimes serious. But the writers did a very decent job on writing creative lore and the quests are very intertwined with that lore.
I did not get a chance to PVP yet but I would say that given the skill system and basic MOB combat it should be very familar to what you already know from WoW. It's about what gear you are wearing, your skill tree build and your basic knowledge of the skills you have an how to best take advantage of thier effects. Plus any buffs items you may have looted from a rift you helped close.
Rift is a more engaging world with random events and RIFT's popping up all the time to either piss you off when they gank you questing or keep you from going insane killing the same mobs 20 times to loot an quest item for some NPC to lazy to help himself. The events are basically random open world RAIDs complete with BOSS MOB's who will wipe even a 80+ man raid/zerg. But it is fun to suddenly find yourself in the middle of a raid with people who just happen to be running around the same area. Everyon bands together and pushes back to save the day. Then goes back to helping those lazy NPC's.
Crafting is also very familar with the ability to learn 3 tradeskills such as mining, armorer and skinning so that you can pretty much supply all your own mat's which is nice so you can be your own self contained armorer only having to occasionally buy mats. The crafting system is setup pretty similar to most MMO's with crafting stations for each tradeskill used to open a menu of recipe's listing out needed mats and number of items you can create. With a create all button it does make it nice to hit it and then smelt 200 tin bars while I take a BIO break. There is also a slot for adding some rift rewards into a slot to enhance any crafted items for that little extra "hey buy me!" in the broker. Gathering was not as dynamic as I would have liked in beta you could stand in one spawn point for a node and wait for it to respawn quickly. I would have expected this to be more random and even the possibility of rift nodes to gather if you happen to find time between phases or are sneaky. But I am holding out hope TRION has set it up this way to help people run through crafting to get a feel for it. But either way it will be easy to pick up and master but will offer something new and different from WoW in basic ways.
I hope you find something useful in this info to help in your conversations. You get a nicely polished game (especialy for a beta which bodes well) that while familar is different enough and engaging enough to keep your friends and you very happy. There just is so much opportunity and community involvement it harkens back to the good old days of open world zerging in EQ2 except you earn loot based on contribution to raid be it dps or heals or other tasks related to the event.
Gom276
Prolific MMO player
Just can't say no to any mmo
Here the rub, what make a game fun for me may not be the thing for you. I love wow when I played but got bored endlessly waiting for groups/raids to form or waiting forever for the battle field to launch. Sure Bliz has improved but at the time it sucked. I love Warhammer for the PVP fun and public quest I got bored there to. I did Age of Conan and love it until they screwed it up and then fixed it. Once again it was a PVP server ... AH good limb hacking time.
Now I like rift it has many of the good elements from other MMO and then there is PVP. Nothing special but yet refreshing. I am liking it much. I love closing rifts and exploring. But I have disposable income that I can throw at it. All I can say it play Rifts and see if you like.
Good luck to you
What could we possibly say to convince you that you can't find out yourself from playing rift beta this weekend? You're either going to like it enough to make the switch or not. I do suggest getting to 15+ before making your decision.
I personally am going to be playing rift. I was hesitant pre-beta 5 and was fully convinced after a couple days of playing. I'm going to use beta 6 to try out guardians since I plan on rolling defiant for launch. You'll probably know if you love it or hate it by the end of the weekend if you get enough play time. I've only seen people totally excited or totally turned off by it, not many people inbetween oddly enough.
Why would I convince you to leave Wow? You play any game you like.
To me it seems like you decided to leave it and just want an excuse, but you really don't need one. It is your life and you should play what you enjoy, if you stopped enjoying Wow you should switch to a game you enjoy more, like Rift.
I don't see what it is to discuss, gaming is about having fun and you should play what is most fun for you, not for anyone else.